War Dogs: National Geographic photos highlight military canines serving on front lines

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS|

May 22, 2014 | 2:44 PM

Marine Cpl. John Dolezal poses with Cchaz, a Belgian Malinois, at Twentynine Palms in California. Dogs bred at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, the military's primary canine facility, are given names that begin with a double letter. (Adam Ferguson/National Geographic)

The military deploys more than 500 dogs into duty each year, and many have been killed in bombings and shootings in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Army Staff Sgt. Jason Cartwright with his Labrador retriever, Isaac, searching for weapons in a basement in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The dogs are trained to sit or lie down, not bark, when they locate a target scent. The handler rewards the dog by letting it chew on a toy. (Adam Ferguson/National Geographic)

The pup on cover, Layka, nearly became one of them when she was shot four times point-blank by enemy forces in Afghanistan.

She still managed to attack and subdue the shooter, the magazine said, saving her handler, Staff Sgt. Julian McDonald.

Labrador retriever Isaac and Army Staff Sgt. Jason Cartwright bond on a mission to disrupt a Taliban supply route. Dogs are very sensitive to their handler's emotions. Says Jay Crafter, a trainer for the military, 'If you are having a bad day, your dog is going to have a bad day.' (Adam Ferguson/National Geographic)